The electrospinning process is one of the most favorable techniques for fabricating submicron fibers from polymeric melts or solutions. The standard laboratory setup for electrospinning consists of a spinneret (typically a hypodermic syringe needle) connected to a high-voltage (5 to 50 kV) direct current power supply, a syringe pump, and a grounded collector. A liquid, such as a polymer solution, sol-gel, particulate suspension or melt is then loaded into the syringe and the liquid is extruded from the needle tip at a constant rate by a syringe pump. The high-voltage direct current power supply is then applied to the liquid droplet, the body of the liquid becomes charged and electrostatic repulsion counteracts the surface tension, and the droplet is stretched. At a critical point a stream of liquid erupts from the surface and is collected by the grounded collector.
The electrospinning process has many advantages such as being feasible, versatile and effective; which makes it a great method to employ when a polymeric solution needs to be altered to the desirable properties. However, there are some disadvantages to the typical electrospinning process. The main disadvantage which makes the standard electrospinning process undesirable is the low production rate, typically around 0.17 grams an hour. The production rate is limited by the rate at which solution is carried by a single jet. One way of increasing the production rate has been to use multiple jets, but the generation of multiple jets by replicating nozzles significantly increases the capital costs of the equipment. Furthermore, most standard electrospinning setups have a difficult design, are difficult to operate, and are quite expensive to set up and run and when you add in multiple jets, the setup becomes even more expensive and the design becomes even more difficult to design and operate.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved electrospinning setup and electrospinning method which offers an increased production rate over typical syringe electrospinning setup and which is both inexpensive and simple to setup and run when compared to a typical syringe electrospinning setup.